Patrick Kane Happy To Control His Future in the NHL

Detroit Will Want to Bring Patrick Kane Back

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet joined Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio, and when asked about Patrick Kane‘s future in Detroit, Friedman stated that Kane was not focused on that just yet, but he is glad to control his playing future.

** NHLRumors.com Transcription

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Scott Laughlin: “Friedge, Patrick Kane wins in a shootout at Montreal night as we know when by then Detroit, they admitted had already known that they would be going home because of what happened in Philadelphia. So there was that? Everybody’s just amazed at how good Patrick Kane was this season. Right? We’ve talked to our buddy Ed Jovanovski about the hip resurfacing surgery he had towards the end. He played 37 games and it was too tough to come back from.

From a physical standpoint, Kane looked amazing. He says he thinks he’ll be even better next season with another summer of offseason training and getting back into it again. What do you see as the future for Patrick Kane here? Was there enough in Detroit this season, individually speaking and from a team perspective, so that he’ll think seriously about extending in Detroit because some connected the dots and said why not to return to Chicago now you’ve got Bedard. You got an upgrade in young talent.

You know, why not finish it up where it started? Or why not go back to Buffalo? The south Buffalo native returning to Western New York, could that be in the cards? What do you see in the future for Patrick Kane here as he starts to decide his future?”

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Elliotte Friedman: “I sat with CJ. Chris Johntson was there with myself. And we’ve talked to Kane after the morning skate in Toronto on Saturday, and it’s pretty clear he’s very excited. And he talked about how much better he feels. He hasn’t had a regular offseason about three years.

Max Pacioretty said the same thing. Actually hasn’t had a regular offseason about three years. And he’s really excited, and the one thing he really feels now, Scotty, is that he has control over the end of his career. Like before, he was worried that he wasn’t going to be able to make the decision. The decision was going to be made for him because he wasn’t healthy.

And now he will be able to call his shot. A little bit more. I was under the impression. I remember I didn’t think the return to Chicago was in the cards until I saw the reaction he had that game there. And, and that was the night of the Chris Chelios Jersey retirement. That was really an incredible night. But I remember watching that and saying you know why maybe he could go back here.

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I was under the impression that he preferred it now. He wouldn’t say it on the weekend. He said look, guys, I’m not thinking about that yet. Which is code for I’m not talking about this. I was under the impression early in the season, around trade deadline, that he didn’t want to get traded and he wanted to stay in Detroit. So, until I hear that, that changes. I’m going with that as my default.

And I’m sure the Red Wings are going to want to bring them back. But I just think that he was really happy in Detroit. And he was happy with the way it worked out. And I know around the deadline, that was his focus.”